Today is International Museum Day, and to celebrate, many museums are waiving the cost of admission, including the Walker Art Center (reminder: general admission to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Weisman Art Museum is always free).

“Museums provide a structured platform for interactions between cultures, which makes them ideal ambassadors for intercultural communication,” writes An Laishun, Deputy Director of the International Friendship Museum in an ICOM report.

Social harmony will likely be one of the topics discussed at this year’s meeting of the American Association of Museums, held in Los Angeles (heads up: it will be in the Twin Cities in 2012). The theme of the meeting is “Museums without borders” and will tackle the role of museums in an increasingly globalized society.

So if you have the afternoon free, and can stand being indoors on a spring day, head over to your favorite museum and take some time to think about how it fosters social harmony.